A/HRC/28/75 entrenched misconceptions and misunderstanding about albinism, notably perpetuated by the media and popular culture, which consistently portray persons with albinism in a negative light.34 Given the rarity of albinism in those regions (an estimated 1 in 17,000 to 20,000) the media and popular culture are major sources of information on the condition for the majority. Therefore, unless specific albinism awareness-raising is conducted by support groups and civil society, such discrimination is unlikely to be brought to light. 41. Persons with albinism face more severe forms of discrimination and violence in those regions where the majority of the general population are relatively dark-skinned. The degree of contrast in pigmentation between the majority and the person with albinism in a community tends to correlate positively with the severity and intensity of discrimination faced by persons with albinism. In other words, a greater degree of contrast in pigmentation often gives rise to a greater degree of discrimination. That appears to be the case in some sub-Saharan African countries where albinism is shrouded in myth and dangerous and erroneous beliefs. 42. Little information is available from other regions such as Asia, South America and the Pacific etc. However, some reports indicate that in China and other Asian countries, children with albinism face abandonment and rejection by their families. A recent epidemiological study of persons with albinism from a specific tribe in Pakistan explains the multi-layered human rights problems faced by persons with albinism, including lack of understanding of albinism, social rejection, medical and psychological problems, as well as confinement to poverty. 35 Reliable testimonies received from Mumbai, India, also indicate that persons with albinism tend to be viewed as cursed on account of their appearance. That perceived curse is considered contagious by some, such that persons with albinism are effectively ostracized and isolated from and by mainstream society. Such isolation has been reported to occur even when persons with albinism are moved into special schools such as schools for the blind owing to their visual impairment. Such treatment even within the community of persons with disabilities shows the pervasiveness of discrimination against persons with albinism. 43. Given the fact that evidence such as the above has only come to the fore in the last year, the absence of information on other regions should not be interpreted to mean that there is no problem of discrimination, stigmatization and violence in those regions. Rather, there should be a general presumption that there are human rights issues facing persons with albinism in each region. That presumption can be rebutted by targeted studies in the near future. Lack of sufficient knowledge remains a significant barrier to tackling discrimination, stigma and violence. III. Responses: successes and subsisting challenges A. Advocacy 44. The documented reports of ritual killings of, and attacks against, persons with albinism, and the many more undocumented acts of violence and discrimination they face, 34 35 Personas con Albinismo (ALBA), Spain, see www.albinismo.es. In popular culture, particularly in literature and in film, persons with albinism are portrayed as villains, demons, ghosts, freaks of nature, mystical anomalies or village idiots. See Azam Jah Samdani and Bahram Khan Khoso, “A unique albino village of Bhatti Tribe in rural Sindh, Pakistan, with oculocutaneous albinism manifestations: an epidemiological study, Iranian Journal of Dermatology, (Iranian Society of Dermatology, 2009), pp. 42–46. See also “Feature: Nepal’s albinos caught between reality and myth”, (Shanghai Daily.com, 9 October 2014). 11